The Natural and Silent Respect

Sweet Dreams & Sweet Denial

"I love you."

Haruhi took a step back, "Oh."

"Please take this letter!" The girl said as she held out the letter for Haruhi.

Haruhi rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm sorry. I can't give you false hope."

The girl looked at Haruhi with wide eyes.

"Please!"

Haruhi sighed, "I'm sorry but I want to focus on my studies only. I can't do that to you, you deserve someone who will make time for you. I'm sure there will be plenty of people tripping over themselves for a chance with you, perhaps you should give one of them a try instead. They can give you what I can't."

"Oh, Haruhi," The girl cried out as she ran away rubbing her eyes. "Even your rejection is sweet!"

Haruhi was left standing under a tree in a courtyard. She sighed as she looked up at the leaves. She had a lot on her plate at the moment and now she would feel bad for hurting the girl's feelings.

Halloween was coming up and her class was having a test of courage thing. She was glad that she got a week away from the host club - even if it meant having to make highly expensive yet still crappy decorations. The thing was, Junko had caught a bad fever so her parents were making a fuss over her which Chiyo noticed but didn't quite understand why.

She had cried to Haruhi that her parents loved Junko more and when Haruhi told her parents how she felt, Chiyo's parents revealed that since Junko was so sick, they told her they wouldn't be able to take her trick-or-treating. Haruhi knew that Chiyo was looking forward to it since she had been talking non-stop about her costume for Halloween since the start of that month.

Now, she had barely managed to get out of participating in the test - the twins antagonized her for the majority of the week because of that - but had to provide more decorations than the others. She was now doing the work of three students.

Then, since Junko was very sick, Haruhi had to babysit Chiyo once she left school. Chiyo's mother tried to keep Chiyo and Junko separated but it was hard in their small apartment with two rooms. She would study, clean, and cook while watching Chiyo throughout the week.

Haruhi yawned as she turned, she might as well head back to class and work some more on some crappy decorations. The girl had called her out towards the beginning of lunch so Haruhi hadn't even been able to enjoy her lunch since she scarfed it down. At least the school day was cut short so that the classes could work on their projects in the afternoon.

However, before she could get far, she walked into another student.

"Agh, I'm sorry about that," Haruhi said as she quickly walked farther away.

"Haruhi?"

Haruhi quickly looked up at yet another source of her exhaustion.

Takashi stood before her wearing a dark outfit with a black cloak, top hat, and two fangs poked out from his mouth. His face gathered some heat when he quickly glanced down to what he was wearing after noticing Haruhi's shock.

Haruhi had noticed something weird about her time with Takashi. Or rather her reactions.

At first, things were like usual. She would look for him first when she walked into the host club, she would look forward to going to his place on the weekends for his lessons, and she would smile to herself when Takashi called her by the nickname he gave her or her first name.

However, she had started to notice that he was on her mind a lot more than before and her trust for him was stronger than towards the others. If Tamaki told her to wear a dress she would say no and call him a pervert but if Takashi asked, then she would.